Knowing the French pronunciation system will help you in future lessons. Don’t worry if you don’t remember everything in one day. You can come back on this tab whenever you need it.
The French alphabet is made of 26 letters: the letters used in French are the same as the letters used in English. Both systems may seem similar but French has some particularities as it uses accents on some vowels and a cedilla on the letter c. Besides, letters aren’t pronounced the same way. Thus, you should focus on French sounds and basic pronunciation rules.
Basic French pronunciation rules
1- The stress always falls on the last syllable of words.
2- When a word ends with the letter e, it is generally not pronounced. For example, you can consider the pronunciation of numbers like onze, douze, treize, quatorze, etc…
3- The letter h can be mute or aspired.
4- Final consonants are most of the time silent. For example, plural marks (like a final s or a final x) are not pronounced. However, there are some exceptions: when words end with c, f or l, the final consonant is pronounced. In addition to this, some nouns finish with consonants that are pronounced: that’s why it’s important to learn French words with their pronunciation.
French sounds
1- The sound /è/
It can be written in different ways: è, ê, e, ai, ei, et.
Examples:
après – le père – la mère – la fenêtre – la tête – un rêve – mercredi – chercher – l’hiver – mais – aimer – la semaine – la reine – la neige – et – un secret
2- The sound /é/
The sound /é/ can be written: é, ée, er or ez.
Examples:
l’été – le bébé – l’école – la fée – la dictée – l’année – un boulanger – nager – aller – le nez – assez – chez Paul
3- The sound /eu/
The French sound /eu/ can be written: e, eu, or œu.
Examples:
vendredi – un genou – une cerise – neuf – heureux – un voleur – un œuf – ma sœur – le cœur
4- The sound /eil/
The French sound /eil/ can be written: eil or eille.
Examples:
le soleil – un réveil – un appareil – une abeille – une oreille – une bouteille
5- The French sound of the combinations -en/-em/-an/-am
These four combinations are generally pronounced the same way.
The combinations -em and -am are used before the letters m, b or p.
The combinations -en and -em are pronounced in a different way when they are conjugated verb endings or part of the derivation of adjectives to create adverbs.
Examples:
trente – cent – ensemble – exemple – cinquante – soixante – le champ – la chambre
6- The French sound /o/
The sound /o/ can be written with o, au or eau.
Examples:
le soleil – du chocolat – une école – un restaurant – jaune – à gauche – un bateau – un chapeau – un château
7- The French sound /on/
The sound /on/ can be written with on or om.
Examples:
onze – bonjour – un pont – un garçon – le nom – le prénom – un nombre – un pompier
8- The French sound /oi/
The sound /oi/ is just simply written with oi.
Examples:
noir – bonsoir – une étoile – boire – avoir – j’ai soif – j’ai froid – à droite – une voiture
9- The French sound /ou/
The sound /ou/ is written with ou.
Examples:
nous – nouveau – sous – rouge – une route – une roue – un jour – toujours
10- The French sound /u/
Be careful with this one! It can be tricky.
The sound /u/ is written with the letter u.
Examples:
sur – salut ! – la rue – le mur – le nuage – la lune – du sucre – la tortue – le menu – des lunettes
